


hold me so i'm not falling apart

by theheadgirl



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, F/M, Family Feels, Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Post-Battle of Hogwarts, Spy Percy, slight AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-26
Updated: 2016-03-26
Packaged: 2018-05-29 06:03:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,352
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6362485
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theheadgirl/pseuds/theheadgirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the minutes after the Battle of Hogwarts, the Weasleys' own prodigal son brings another shock to his family: a wife. How will she adjust to her huge new family, and how will they take their new daughter and sister? What other secrets is he hiding behind those horn-rimmed glasses?</p>
            </blockquote>





	hold me so i'm not falling apart

Through the dull roar of voices mixed with the occasional fit of sobs, a voice rings clarion over it all, seeking, desperate to find.

"Percy?" 

Halfway across the Great Hall, a figure turns, head lifted, eyes scanning. A moment later, there is an answering call.

"Audrey!"

A young woman comes pushing through the crowd. Her dark hair is pulled back into a hasty ponytail, and what had clearly started the day as a neat, tailored blazer and skirt is now caked with dirt and blood, torn and burned. One of her diamond stud earrings is missing, and though her face is dirty, she seems mostly unharmed. When she spots him, her face crumples in relief, tears tracking clean streaks across her cheeks, and she starts running towards him.

"Percy!"

He catches her as she throws herself at him, clutching her tightly to him, the long fingers of one hand curling into her hair, his other arm wrapping stiffly around her waist. They kiss, once, twice, almost frantic, clinging on to that physical proof that the other is there. He's in his shirtsleeves and black trousers, similarly wrecked: ripped, gray with stone dust, splashed with blood. 

"You're okay?" he asks, pulling back just enough to look at her face, his hand cupping her face, looking her over as much as he can like he'll be able to identify a grievous wound from two inches away. 

She nods, blinking away fresh tears, looking up into his face. Before she can ask about him, though, her eyes go to his shoulder, to the torn sleeve there, to the length of dingy bandage wrapped around his upper arm. 

"What happened?" she demands.

He shakes his head. "It's nothing, just a cut -"

"Then why didn't Madam Pomfrey just heal it?" 

A hesitation. 

"It's from Dark magic," she guesses, and she knows she's right by the look on his face. She reaches out, touches the top of the bandage, and looks back at him. She'd be well within her rights to demand the story right now, but before she can, there's a cough from behind them.

He doesn't let go of her as he turns, and she peers around him, at the table of people all with flaming red hair (and a brunette, a blonde, and a man with black hair) staring at them.

"Who's this?" Ginny's voice is brittle as ice.

"Oh - " He lets go of her, though keeping an arm around her like she might vanish if they're not in constant contact. She glances up at him, then at his gathered family, and her eyes land on the still, pale body on the table. She freezes, hand twisting into the front of his filthy shirt.

"This isn't," she starts, meaning the time, the place, the appropriate occasion to make introductions, but he speaks instead.

"Mum, Dad, everyone," he says, "this is Audrey. My wife."

It's like he dropped another wall. Silence stretches between them, and her hand twists further into his shirt as his arm tightens around her. 

Molly bursts into tears.

 

There hadn't been a question about them coming back to the Burrow with the rest of the family. 

"You'll have Percy's room, of course," Molly told them, and that was that. Percy supposes that's one good thing about introducing Audrey when he had. No one was in a mood to fight him or tease him. He's not in much mood to be fought or teased, either. He'd had his reasons, for this, for everything, but he's too tired to get into it right now. 

After a subdued, nearly silent dinner of sandwiches, everyone goes to their respective bedrooms, no one really wanting to talk right now. 

"Charlie," Molly says to her second-oldest son, and she nods up the stairs to the bedrooms on the second landing. 

Charlie nods. "Okay, Mum." When he starts upstairs, instead of continuing past it, he knocks at George's door and goes in.

Percy leads Audrey to his bedroom next door to that one. It's small, with white walls and a plain wood floor, and a bed little bigger than a Hogwarts-issue twin, with a sensible dark blue coverlet and white sheets. There's a bookshelf, only about half full, and a desk with a variety of quills along the top.

"This is exactly the room I thought you'd have," Audrey says. She sits on the edge of the bed and kicks off her shoes, drawing her legs up to rub her feet.

"Boring?" Percy asks, the dryness in his voice almost covering the bitterness in it. He stands at the door and starts making careful gestures with his wand, murmuring under his breath. Although she's sure that both of them realize that it's safer than it has been, and there's probably little need for protective wards tonight, she's also sure they'll sleep better for having them. 

"No-nonsense. No distractions." She moves to take off her blazer and winces as something pulls in her back. 

"How do you feel?" Percy asks, sitting next to her.

"Sore," Audrey replies. "I think I'm going to be one giant bruise in the morning. How does my back look?"

Percy leans back to have a look. "Like one giant bruise. Can I get anything for you?"

Audrey shakes her head. "Just come here," she requests, softly, holding her arms out to him. He acquiesces, and though they have to be careful of his arm and her back, they manage all the same. 

 

It's about midnight when Audrey pads downstairs, too on edge to get much sleep, and she stops short in the doorway of the kitchen, the yellow light catching the surprise on her face. Ginny looks up at her, idly toying with the mug of tea in front of her.

"I'll come back," Audrey says, figuring she'll make her excuses and let Ginny have her time alone.

Ginny casts a speculative look over her. "You're wearing Perce's pajamas," she observes. "You really must be his wife if he'd let you do that." A beat, and she looks back at her mug. "Mugs are over the sink."

Taking it as an invitation, Audrey finds a mug emblazoned with a Chudley Cannons logo and fills it with tea, then sits down across from Ginny, taking a sip from it. 

"Couldn't sleep?" Ginny asks after a few moments of silence. 

Audrey shakes her head. "I don't think many people are sleeping well tonight."

Ginny nods, then makes a vague sort of gesture to the offensively orange mug. "Who d'you support?"

"I like the Arrows," Audrey says. "Their Keeper - Alexandra Doyle, you know? - is one of the best in the League."

"You know about Quidditch?" Ginny asks, seeming amazed.

Audrey raises her eyebrows. "Should I not?"

"Have you seen who you're married to?" Ginny points out. "He wouldn't know a Bludger from a Snitch if one flew down his trousers."

Audrey bites back a smile. "It's not his strong suit, no."

"How did you end up married to him, anyway?" The question seems to burst out of Ginny, like it's something she's been holding onto far too tightly and it finally slipped free of her grasp.

Audrey considers. There's the lie, the one they've been letting people read into for nearly the last year - and then there's the truth. Ginny deserves the truth. Not only because it's her brother, but because she's heard Percy say that his family thinks he abandoned them for the Ministry, that he spent the whole war comfortably ensconced in the arms of the enemy. This might not change any minds, but it's a start.

"We had to get married." Either way, the lie or the truth, the story starts the same. She sees Ginny's startled eyes, the way her eyes flick to Audrey's stomach, the question that curls on her tongue. 

"You've heard of the Muggleborn Registration Commission, of course. All the Muggleborns working in the Ministry had to register. It was that or risk the Snatchers." She pauses, takes a sip of her tea. "My friend Hermia worked with Undersecretary Umbridge - she had access to the lists of summons and when they'd be sent. When my name cropped up, she told me."

"They would have broken your wand, right?" Ginny asks. "Because they thought you'd stolen your magic."

Audrey nods. "Exactly. I couldn't prove magical blood - my mum is a banker and my dad's family has been running their shoe store for generations. I didn't have a chance. But what I did have on my side was your brother.

"I was terrified. As soon as I could, I told him what Hermia had told me, and he went to work."

"What was he looking for?" Ginny asks. "He'd be the first one to tell you to go. You’ve got to follow the rules."

Audrey's lips thin. "He was looking for a loophole. He knew there had to be one, just in case a scandal might happen otherwise. Anyway, he found it - it was attached to some completely unrelated legislation, so no one would think to look there. I can't remember the specific wording, but it boiled down that any Muggleborn spouse of a witch or wizard whose surname appeared among the Sacred Twenty-Eight or could prove their magical lineage back seven generations was exempt from interrogation by the Commission.

"We got married at a courthouse in London the next afternoon. Undersecretary Umbridge called me to her office after I'd submitted my name change papers."

"Bet she wasn't happy," Ginny says, though she seems less happy than grimly satisfied, and perhaps a little shocked, a little angry.

"Oh, no." This time, Audrey's smile has a wicked cast to it. "She smiled and congratulated me on my happy news, and then she tried her damnedest to see if I knew about the loophole. But Percy and I had a story ready. Undersecretary Umbridge pointed out we'd been married in a bit of a hurry, and I said, 'Oh, we had to get married straightaway, once we got the news.'" She puts her hand, carefully, on her stomach, and smiles beatifically. 

"That's," Ginny doesn't seem to know what to say. "That's _brilliant_. You tell them what to think, but you're being perfectly honest."

"Exactly." The wicked smile fades, and Audrey takes takes another sip of her tea. "Percy got several write-ups after that, and we know we were being watched very closely for a few weeks after. But a dull Ministry official and his dull wife are boring to watch."

"What about that legislation?" Ginny asks. "Didn't you let people know about it? It could have saved lives."

"Oh, it was amended very quickly," Audrey says. "The Muggleborn and the pureblood had to have been married for at least a year for the exemption to apply ... let me think, maybe two days after we informed the Ministry? I know Percy passed it on to - " She catches herself and says instead, "to someone he thought could use it, but I don't know if they did anything with it."

Ginny's eyes narrow. "Passed it on to whom?" 

Audrey shakes her head. "That's not mine to tell. Ask him in the morning."

"Why can't I ask him now?" Ginny asks, half-standing. "He's just upstairs."

"He's in London." 

Ginny freezes. The look on her face vacillates between anger, betrayal, and heartbreak. "Why?!"

"Oh -" Realizing her mistake, Audrey waves in a frantic gesture of reconciliation. "Not permanently. He just went home to get changes of clothes for us and have a shower. He'll be back before too long."

"Oh." Ginny sits back, though the unhappiness lurks around her eyes, keeps the corners of her mouth tugged slightly down. It'll probably be a while before anyone's in the mood for much smiling, Audrey thinks. Even as a somewhat-newlywed, she's not really feeling it.

They sit in silence, neither of them feeling any desire or necessity to break it with a conversation neither of them particularly want to have. 

Audrey's just set down her mug after her last sip of tea when there's a sound like a gunshot out in the front yard. Almost instantly, she and Ginny are both on their feet, wands drawn. They look at each other, and Ginny silently steps forward, prepared to defend her home turf. 

The front door opens, and Percy steps through, face set, his own wand drawn. He clearly hadn't been expecting company. 

"Audrey, what did I say to you yesterday morning? Before I left for work?" 

"'A storm's coming,'" Audrey replies. "'Be safe.'"

His face relaxes slightly and he lowers his wand. "I didn't mean to interrupt anything. I've got clothes in here, Audrey." He hefts an overnight bag. "Good night."

"Good night," Audrey echoes.

"'Night," Ginny says as well. She doesn't quite look at him, and he doesn't quite look at her, either. He vanishes upstairs, the stairs creaking under his feet.

"I'm going to get back to bed, too," Audrey says. She picks up the Cannons mug and sets it in the sink, tapping it with her wand so it starts to clean itself. "It was nice talking to you, Ginny."

"Yeah, you too." She smiles, but it doesn't really reach her eyes. "Nice to get to know my secret sister-in-law."

Audrey opens her mouth to say something, then closes it. Instead, with a quiet "good night," she heads upstairs after her husband. 

She doesn't hear the stairs again for some time after that.

 

Breakfast is already in progress when they come downstairs again. Most of the family is up and around the table, and though the table is covered in food, no one seems to be eating much. Two seats between Charlie and George are open, and Audrey perches in the one next to George. George glances at her, then goes back to his oatmeal, the corners of his lips twitching down. Audrey realizes whose chair she must have commandeered, who ought to be sitting here instead of her, and she wishes that Percy had given her a bit of warning, first.

"Something to drink, Audrey?" Percy asks.

"Tea, thank you," she replies.

She notices he seems to take his time making her cup of tea. Normally, it's a quick matter of the tea itself, bit of milk, bit of sugar, but he's being very precise about everything this morning. After her tea is ready and he's poured his coffee, she notices that he even glances around for a moment like he's looking for something else to do, then returns to the table, setting down the mugs and taking a seat next to Charlie. 

Audrey gets the feeling that breakfasts at the Burrow are normally a much more raucous affair. Today, no one seems willing to be the first to break the silence. That is, until Ginny speaks up.

"Percy. Who was it?" she says, almost hostile.

Percy looks up, eyebrows raised slightly. "I beg your pardon?"

"Last night, Audrey told me that you passed on that marriage loophole to someone. She wouldn't say who. Who was it?"

All eyes are on them now. Percy's ears slowly start to turn red, and when he glances at Audrey, she reads the betrayal in his eyes. True, this isn't an ideal situation, but when she'd told Ginny to ask him "in the morning," she hadn't thought Ginny would take it as " _first thing_ tomorrow morning, and in front of everyone." She's starting to realize the Weasley way of doing things is a bit different from the Kings'. She mouths 'sorry' to him, and he looks away.

"I don't think that was Audrey's call to make," he says, then sets his coffee mug down, stretching his fingers out. When he stops focusing on his hands, they curl into fists. "But since it's been made, fine. It was the Order of the Phoenix."

The whole room seems to inhale at the same time, and then something shatters. All heads snap over to Arthur, his stoneware mug in pieces at his feet, staring at his third-eldest son like he's never seen him before. 

"Spilled Ink," he says. "Spilled Ink tipped us off to that loophole. Percy, was that ...?"

Instead of answering, Percy shoves his chair back and storms out the back door. 

"Spilled Ink?" Charlie echoes in the stunned silence after the dramatic exit.

"He was the Order's eyes on the Minister," Arthur explains, seeming dazed. "We knew he was in the Minister's inner circle, but I don't think any of us ever suspected ..."

"He's a spy and he goes for 'Spilled Ink' as a codename?" George shakes his head in disbelief. "Tragically uncool, right, F -" He looks at Audrey and cuts himself off suddenly, hands tightening around his mug.

"Are you all serious?" Ron demands suddenly. "You believe him? You think he could actually -?"

"I know he did," Audrey says. "He put his life on the line every day for it. I wish he hadn't." She pushes her own chair back. "Excuse me."

Outside, the backyard is full of sunshine and plants just starting to bloom. A worn dirt path weaves between the garden plots and leads off into the orchard behind the house, the trees dotted with small green apples. Audrey spots her quarry standing with his back to the house, good hand by his side, cigarette carefully tilted to keep the ashes from falling into the plot of tomatoes next to him. 

"Percy?" Her voice is gentle, and she comes up next to him, reaching up to touch the uninjured part of his arm.

"I'm sorry you had to see that," Percy replies stiffly. "My family can be very - " His lips tighten into an unhappy line, and he takes a drag off his cigarette instead of finishing his thought.

"I'm sorry too," Audrey tells him. "I didn't think Ginny would - not first thing in the morning, anyway."

"I think you'll learn quickly that the Weasley way is to do things at the worst possible time," Percy replies. He looks down at her. "They would have found out eventually." 

Audrey nods, feeling the fist clenched in her stomach loosen slightly. It's couched in fairly oblique terms, but she recognizes it for the forgiveness it is. 

"Perce, you smoke?"

At the same time, Audrey and Percy turn to see Bill stepping out through the back door, closing it carefully behind him. His eyebrows lift in surprise, but there's a curl of delight to his mouth. 

"I knew we'd make a rebel of you eventually," the eldest Weasley son continues, striding over to them. He puts his hands in his pockets and eyes his brother thoughtfully. Audrey can almost see Percy's walls going right back up, his own gaze cool, hiding the insecurity and anxiety she knows must be raging inside. 

"Is it true?" Bill asks. 

"Of course it's true."

"How long?"

"The whole time."

"And the fight with Dad?"

Percy’s face tightens, and he takes another drag from his cigarette. "Part of the plan."

"All of it?" Bill's eyebrows raise.

"...most of it."

"Why didn't you say anything? Even a hint?"

A huff of a disbelieving laugh. "As though anyone would have believed me, even if I had been able to. I'm surprised anyone does now."

"Ron doesn't." Bill smiles to soften the harshness of his words. "Hermione does, though. She'll work on him."

"You do?" 

"If you say you did, you did. You wouldn't lie about something that important."

Percy looks at his older brother, and Bill steps forward, giving him a hug. He steps back, at arm's length, and thwacks Percy lightly on his good arm.

"Come back in. Your oatmeal's getting cold." He starts back to the Burrow, and stops to add: "Be sure you Scour the cigarette smoke off first. Mum'll have your head otherwise." He grins, briefly, and steps back in.

Audrey looks up at Percy. He inhales deeply, then flicks the cigarette butt away. It Vanishes in mid-air, and after a quick Scour, he reaches for her hand.

"Ready?" she asks quietly.

"No."

Their fingers tighten against each other, palms pressing together in a silent kiss of comfort. He breathes in again, jaw tightening, and nods. 

"Let's go."

**Author's Note:**

> This idea has been percolating for a while now, and I'm glad I was finally able to get it out into the real world. I have always loved the idea of Percy acting as a spy for the Order, fighting against the bad guys the best way he can - and being the hero that saves the girl with a judicious application of the rules. Title comes from Rixton's "Me and My Broken Heart."
> 
> The usual disclaimers apply - they're not mine and I'm just playing in JKR's sandbox. No money is being made.


End file.
